CHANNELKIRK WALL HANGING
The Channelkirk Wall Hanging, which depicts the history of the parish over the ages, was embroidered by ladies and gentlemen of the parish and completed as part of the 750th anniversary of the consecration of the church.
The central figure is that of Saint Cuthbert watching over his sheep on the Lammermuir Hills. Behind him, is his cross, the design taken from his tomb in Durham Cathedral. To the left the good Bishop David and the present church built in 1817, with the mortsafe, which is one of the cherished relics. Beside Bishop David, one of the cottar women nurses a lamb while her little girl plays.
The base shows the focal point of Oxton life; the Hotel, the War Memorial hall, and behind the Lauder Light Railway with one of the labourers who built it with pick and shovel. Beneath flows the Leader Water, one of the monks of Dryburgh Abbey tending the Mountmill – originally Monk Mill – in the valley below the church, where roe deer still graze. The bondagers in their distinctive sunbonnets are at work in the harvest field. The transverse arms of the St Andrews Cross represents the road of progress and the road of time.
The road of progress illustrates the evolution of the different means of transport which have passed through the parish along the road over Soutra Hill; the humble pack horse; the four wheeled wagon; the stage coach; an early motor car; the first SMT bus to Lauder and a modern juggernaut lorry owned by Campbell of Oxton.
On the road of time, a modern family watches as some of the people who have travelled along Dere Street, the ancient Roman highway linking Scotland and England, which passes through the parish; the Roman soldier; Ulfkill the Norseman, the first recorded settler; the pilgrim, winding his way to the hospice at Soutra Aisle; Saint Margaret of Scotland; King Edward 1 of England, the Hammer of the Scots; Oliver Cromwell on his way to the Battle of Dunbar in 1651 and Bonny Prince Charlie who passed through the parish in 1745. In the corners appear wildlife and elsewhere natural plants and tendered gardens.
Acknowledgements to The Parish of Channelkirk and Lauder
Photograph of Wall Hanging; H.Jones
